Tell Congress: no more weapons of war for local police.

Because of Ferguson, it's clear we need to stop technology from being
used to silence free speech. Police have brutally attacked protesters
and journalists with teargas, rubber bullets, sound cannons, concussion
grenades, and military vehicles. We have to draw the line or we risk
losing our basic right to dissent. Tell Congress: "Support the 'Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act' and restore free speech now!"

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This is not what democracy looks like.

Since August 9th, protests rejecting the actions of the Ferguson Police Department following the shooting of an unarmed black teenager have exploded throughout the United States. In response to the protests, state and local police in Ferguson have deployed military-grade weapons and on unarmed protesters including tear gas, automatic rifles, and sound cannons. These weapons are known to cause severe harm and longterm health effects, especially tear gas, a chemical weapon that can cause death, miscarriages, and amputations.

The corruption of the police and their attempts to suppress the press is so egregious that there is an abundance of tweets, livestreams, reports that note events such as reporter Tim Pool having his press badge ripped off by a police officer, police arresting Intercept reporter Ryan Devereaux and shooting him with rubber bullets while his hands were in the air shouting “Press! Press! Press!”, and arrests of numerous other reporters for documenting the police and the protest.

Politicians from both sides of the political spectrum have come out against the militarization of law enforcement in response to these events. With the momentum turning against militarized police, Congress is soon considering a bill called the “Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement” Act that could help stop weapons of war falling into the hands of local and state law enforcement.

Do the police in your town have weapons of war? Probably.

The Department of Defense is authorized by the United States Code to
transfer
surplus military assets to local and state law enforcement.
This is the way that local and state police get their hands on weapons
of war - including mine resistant tanks, sound cannons, tear
gas, automatic rifles, and grenade launchers. 12,000 police
organizations across the United States obtain nearly 500
million dollars worth of military merchandise every year for
no charge.

That’s how police officers in Ferguson,
Missouri, or Oakland, California are able to roll into their towns and
essentially wage war against residents with tear gas, tanks, grenade
launchers, and AR-15 automatic rifles. Having military-grade weapons
escalates the way police officers interact with people. These are not
the tools of democracy, they're the tools of fascism. With a bill coming
to Congress next month to
restrict the transfer of military grade weapons to local and
state law enforcement, the window of opportunity for us to restore
democracy and protect the future of free speech is now. Please sign the
petition and share this page.

Thanks to a FOIA request filed by the New York Times this year, we can now look up the amount of military equipment our own local police departments have.